If there’s a way to make a lesson on congruent, complementary and supplementary angles more engaging for students, a "Jeopardy!" challenge is probably one.

It’s exactly how teachers Hannah Camilleri and Henry Oliveira followed up that particular math lesson Monday morning, when Gov. Deval Patrick walked into the room.

Patrick and Secretary of Education Matthew Malone -- along with several school officials and local elected leaders -- encountered students grouped into teams, as they tried to rack up the most points and answer questions based on what they had just learned about angles.

Patrick and Malone were there to observe and congratulate the school’s teachers, students and principals on Kuss’s recent promotion from Level 4 to Level 1 status.

Patrick dove right in, conferring with students on a question about what kind of angle is a 91-degree angle. They had 90 seconds to determine an answer.

Students gave their answers and explained their reasoning. The answer was obtuse.

“I think it’s B. Angles two and four are not congruent,” another student argued in a following question.

Before leaving the classroom, Patrick told the students, “I just want to applaud you. You guys are doing fabulous work.”

They visited a sixth-grade English language arts class. Students were seated in a circle, discussing a short story, “Charles” by Shirley Jackson.

Patrick sat in the circle with them. They were talking about the main character’s possible motivation for making up a story to his parents about a classmate who did not actually exist, but whose bad behavior was actually his own.

“I think we have to put ourselves in Laurie’s shoes,” said one student to his classmates, “and think about what we would do.”

Their teacher, Jared Bellot, facilitated the discussion with a few questions:

“Do you guys think that Laurie’s parents were upset?”

Students gave their takes. They didn’t raise hands, but took turns. The discussion thereafter was led by them.

According to Kuss principal Michael Procaccini, that’s the culture in the building -- encouraging students to teach their peers.

Malone, standing behind students near the front of the classroom called the lesson “groundbreaking.”

“You’re sitting in the middle of a literature circle. It’s the middle of September, and the first month of school for sixth graders who are new to this building. This is the norm of the kind of work that is happening across this system,” Malone said.

"If you think about why you guys are getting the results that you’re getting. We have high schools that can’t have this level of conversation right now. And you guys as sixth graders in Fall River are truly breaking new ground. Thank you for your effort.”

Page 2 of 2 - In a press conference following the classroom tour, Patrick said that several Level 4 schools statewide emerged from that status, including in Fall River.

“Many schools that were in turnaround status have emerged from that to greater levels of achievement and that’s certainly happening in Fall River,” Patrick said.

“Kuss in particular went out of Level 4 and right into Level 1.”

He appeared impressed with what he saw in the classrooms he visited, saying he admired the skill of the teachers and the culture of the classrooms. The students’ “engagement and intellect were on great display in the math class we saw and the English class as well.

“It underscores the point that the secretary and I believe which is that every child can learn and it’s the responsibility of adults to create the type of environment that works for those children.”

Patrick acknowledged that there is no one solution to improving public education.

“It’s not one size fits all, but with the right combination of tools and rules and flexbilities that enable children to be successful.”